Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
So much more than those stunning singles, 21 Mar 2007
Bananarama's self-titled second studio album was all about consolidation. After successfully making a name for themselves away from Fun Boy Three, the group needed to cement their place in the pop echelon. As such, "Bananarama" must surely be considered a soaring success.
Notable for spawning two of their biggest ever hits ("Cruel Summer" and "Robert De Niro's Waiting") as well as two of their most criminally overlooked ("Rough Justice" and the glorious "Hotline To Heaven"), this album has so much more to offer, and holds up magnificently in this remastered form with pertinent bonus tracks.
A graduate of that 80s school of thought which stated that an album was better off being concise and to the point; the original studio album accommodated a mere 9 tracks, but each of them has a place - "all killer; no filler", if you will.
Surprisingly poignant in places and flowing seamlessly throughout, this second long player is supremely assured, confident and brimming with determined musical intent. And there we were thinking they were just out for a laugh!
Highly recommended.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Hotline to Heaven, 31 May 2009
The self titled follow up to Deep Sea Skiving , comes accross as a much stronger and more confident effort than their debut, but musically it follows much the same formula.
The album opens with one hell of a bang, the powerful, pounding Cruel Summer, still one of my favourite Banarama tracks, probably the best known track from the Jolly&Swain era. The album carries on with another blazer of a tune, Rough Justice, OK, so this is a song with a social conscience, that tries to relay a serious message - probably not the best thing for a girl-group to be doing, but luckily its a catchy and entertaining pop song to boot! Unfortunately, then mediocrity kicks in. The next two tracks - King of the Jungle, and Dream Baby, are not neccesarily bad, but are not particularly catchy nor have particularly engaging lyrics, so one could be forgiven for hitting the stop button and putting something else on at this point. Fortunately, for those that persevere, after the brief Link (does what it says on the tin) we have Hotline to Heaven, which is where the album picks up, and the 'rams get on their soapbox again (this time about drugs). State I'm In is a brilliant little track, that juxtaposes an upbeat and chirpy melody with lyrics describing the breakdown of a relationship. This is then perfectly followed by Robert Deniro's Waiting, the second biggest track off the album (following Cruel Summer), and one of those great songs for girly nights in! . The album closes with the beautiful and touching Through a Childs Eyes, which only suffers from being a tad too short, if it had been a few minutes longer it could've been a great epic ballad!
Aside from a slight dip in the middle, this is another strong release from the 'rams. Although it sees them developing their earlier style with better production values and a more powerful overall sound, it is still very samey when compared to their first album, and had they carried on in this direction, they could have got boring very quickly...
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0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a glorious summer!, 1 April 2007
the second bananarama album was produced by jolley/swain the hottest people around at the time..alison moyets debut for instance!
the album has the same feel as the great album "alf" and some of the fun of "deep sea skiving" but it seems a lot more serious and a lot of the fun of the first album is missing.
"cruel summer" provided the girls with a huge hit and is one of my favourites..."robert de niros waiting" was even bigger.."rough justice" flopped and why they released it remains a mystery...yes it has a message..."children are staring on the streets ect" but its not what nana fans wanted! "hotline to heaven" was released after this and again failed to make an impression.
the problem with the album is...bananarama are about fun..this album had all the great points of the first album but it didnt sound happy! i know i hark back to alison moyet but if she had recorded it it would probably sound wonderful!
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